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President Barack Obama approved Monday the resumption of military trials for detainees at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ending a two-year ban.

It was the latest acknowledgement that the detention facility Obama had vowed to shut down within a year of taking office will remain open for some time to come. But even while announcing a resumption of military commission trials, Obama reaffirmed his support for trying terror suspects in U.S. federal courts – something that’s met vehement resistance on Capitol Hill.

In light of this:

So based on that, our moral compass is down the toilet, as per President Obama’s standards. Which is to say, no standards at all.

Clearly this is a political move, part of the administrations slow creep to the center ahead of next years elections. Of course, it’s a good thing that Gitmo remains open for business. The political benefits of trying to close the prison did not materialize for the President however, and he continues to use the professional left as his own personal punching bag.

The FBI thwarted an attempted terrorist bombing in Portland’s Pioneer Courthouse Square before the city’s annual tree-lighting Friday night, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Oregon.

A Corvallis man, thinking he was going to ignite a bomb, drove a van to the corner of the square at Southwest Yamhill Street and Sixth Avenue and attempted to detonate it.

However, the supposed explosive was a dummy that FBI operatives supplied to him, according to an affidavit in support of a criminal complaint signed Friday night by U.S. Magistrate Judge John V. Acosta.

Mohamed Osman Mohamud, 19, a Somali-born U.S. citizen, was arrested at 5:42 p.m., 18 minutes before the tree lighting was to occur, on an accusation of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction. The felony charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The arrest was the culmination of a long-term undercover operation, during which Mohamud had been monitored for months as his alleged bomb plot developed.

More Islamofascist tolerance:

The FBI operatives cautioned Mohamud several times about the seriousness of his plan, noting that there would be many people, including children, at the event, and that Mohamud could abandon his plans at any time with no shame.

“You know there’s going to be a lot of children there?” an FBI operative asked Mohamud. “You know there are gonna be a lot of children there?”

Mohamud allegedly responded he was looking for a “huge mass that will … be attacked in their own element with their families celebrating the holidays.”

Mohamud dismissed concerns about law enforcement, explaining that, ” … It’s in Oregon; and Oregon, like, you know, nobody ever thinks about,” according to the affidavit.

“The threat was very real,” said Oregon’s FBI Special Agent in Charge Arthur Balizan. “Our investigation shows that Mohamud was absolutely committed to carrying out an attack on a very grand scale. At the same time, I want to reassure the people of this community that, every turn, we denied him the ability to actually carry out the attack.”

Sources tell CBS News that multiple people have been taken into custody for questioning in Pakistan in connection with the Times Square bomb plot.

Authorities are not saying who the potential suspects are or where they are being held, but they say there were raids Monday night and Tuesday morning in different locations. It’s believed between four and eight people are being held, and there are reports that some of them may be related to the suspect arrested overnight in New York.

The Associated Press said that Pakistani authorities have detained at least one man in connection with the Times Square bombing attempt in New York, two intelligence officials said Tuesday.

The man, identified as Tauseef, was a friend of Faisal Shahzad, the American of Pakistani origin who is in custody in the United States over the failed attack, one official said. He was arrested in the southern city of Karachi, said the official, who like all Pakistani spies refuses to be named in the media.

Another official said several people had been taken into custody in Karachi since the failed attack Saturday.

Between these scumbags and the Christmas Day underpants bomber, the only thing that has kept us from disaster are two failed detonators and the courage of the FBI.

Top Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee publicly scolded Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano for failing to show up at a Wednesday hearing where the committee examined the attempted Christmas Day suicide bombing of Northwest Flight 253. One Democrat on the committee said he wanted to know “where the hell” Napolitano was.

That evening, Napolitiano did prominently show up at the Capitol to attend President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address. But earlier in the day, she dispatched Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Jane Holl Lute to testify on her behalf in the Homeland Security Committee on what went wrong in the homeland-security process that allowed would-be suicide-bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board a plane bound from Amsterdam to the Detroit.

[…]

Democrats openly expressed their dismay with Napolitano as the hearing proceeded. Rep. Chris Carney (D.-Pa.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Management, Investigations and Oversight, said during his question period: “I am very dismayed that the Secretary herself isn’t here. I mean it’s probably fair to ask: “Where the Hell is Secretary Napolitano?”

Rep. Jane Harman (D.-Calif.), chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, said: “I would like to welcome our witnesses but comment on the absence of Secretary Napolitano. This is the committee with primary jurisdiction over the Department of Homeland Security. She is the secretary of Homeland Security. She is in Washington, D.C. She was invited to testify at this very important hearing, and she should have been here. … I am very personally disappointed that she isn’t here.”

Homeland Security Chairman Bennie Thompson (D.-Miss.) rebuked Napolitano for a lack of courtesy in dealing with the committee. Thompson said during the hearing that he had spoken with Napolitano just two days before and that there had been no discussion of her not attending.

Apparently the only things that keeps America safe from terrorism are faulty underwear detonators and fellow passengers who decide to take matters into their own hands.

That should be enough, because “the system works” and those in charge of our safety have better things to do—like napping in front of 60 million people while the President rambles on about how we are going to be safer because Democrats run the government now, and giving the finger to your congressional oversight committee.

It’s funny, because I’ve been told for several years by my leftie friends that it was Republicans that didn’t take governing seriously.

Just as disturbing, is that this story is not getting any real play in the media, not that I should be surprised. I can only imagine the uproar if these things occurred in a Republican administration. And I seem to recall Democrats criticizing everything the Bush administration did to try and stop terrorism. Now that Democrats run all facets of the Federal government, they’re asleep at the switch—literally. God help us.